Reading the Starting Position

Every starting position in 960 has a number from 0 to 959; the classical setup hides under number 518. Before a game, spend ten seconds scouting the first rank: where the queen is, which diagonals the bishops are eyeing, where the king is tucked away. That's not a formality — it's your plan for the opening. The typical mistake is to play the first moves on autopilot, like in classical chess, and blunder into an open diagonal by move three. I finish games like that quickly.

Training your eye on position #50. The queen is the most expensive piece, and her address is the first thing to learn: both the threats and the weaknesses depend on it. Look at White's first rank: where does the queen stand?